Ad Hoc 802.11-802.15.4 Crosstalk-Based Communication in Practice
Inga Rüb, Szymon Acedański, Konrad Iwanicki · International Conference on Embedded Wireless Systems and Networks · 2018
802.11-802.15.4 crosstalk-based communication has been heralded as a potential solution to many interoperability problems posed by low-power wireless devices. Among many issues that can be addressed by this kind of communication, the one that has drawn our attention is configuring motes equipped with 802.15.4 radios in a convenient way. Such devices have become an intrinsic part of our everyday life, yet they often lack any interfaces suitable for users with no technical background. Consequently, the idea of utilizing an ordinary smartphone as a remote controller for low-power devices seems to be appealing in particular. However, despite the promising results on 802.11-to-802.15.4 crosstalk, some important elements are missing to realize this vision. Above all, state-of-the-art solutions require access to low-level subsystems of both sides of communication. As we explain, in real-world applications devices involved in the process cannot be always fully controlled. On the other hand, our use-case does not need to address serious difficulties that are typically considered when designing solutions based on the discussed mechanism. This advantage is promising enough to attempt to verify whether less restrictive version of crosstalk-based communication can be deployed in an ad-hoc manner. We answer this question by presenting results of experiments carried out in variety of settings.